Voltage regulator arcs when grounding to powerhead

[trigby]

I have a 97 merc 150 EFI, I had one voltage regulator burned up the other one looked good, when i removed the one that looked good to clean behind it i went to slide it back on the studs and i got a small arc I know thats not supposed to do that so i guess i'll be buying two regulators instead of one. WILL THE STATOR ITSELF BURN UP VOLTAGE REGULATORS????? Thanks ,Tim.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Voltage regulator arcs when grounding to powerhead

The regulators have a capacitor on the output, and will normally bleed down at a milliamp or so. They slightly spark when hooked up to a battery as the capacitor is suddenly fully charged. It's normal.

Can't think of a way to burn up voltage regulators with a bad stator, but bad connections will, especially the yellow wires. The 10 amp bullet connectors are sometimes carrying 20 amps. I cut em out and solder the connection.

hope it helps
John

 

[trigby]

Re: Voltage regulator arcs when grounding to powerhead

Im not talking abouth the wire arcing ,im talking about the regulator itself when it hits metal, Is that normal ,its very low voltage when it does ,like mili amps.

 

[j_martin]

Re: Voltage regulator arcs when grounding to powerhead

The circuit is between the battery positive and frame ground through the case. If the battery wires are connected when you mount it, that completes the circuit and you can expect a slight insignificant arc as I said.

It's the same arc you get when you connect the battery after it's been disconnected for awhile.

If the stator (yellow) connectors are discoloring, deal with that. That's what's going to bite you.

 

[trigby]

Re: Voltage regulator arcs when grounding to powerhead

OK J_martin , THanks for the info i was scared i was gonna have to buy another one ,lol the yellow wires look ok coming from the stator,im gonna take peoples advise and crimp with butt connectors and solder the ends, thanks alot for your help , Tim.